News Roundup: Archaeology Grind and Cross-Realm Heirlooms

...on the Archaeology "Grind"

Yes, I know this is a secondary profession, but the RNG involved is absolutely atrocious. After crafting my 5th "Delicate Music Box" and still getting numerous Fossil sites, even after having solved all of them, I am wondering what on earth Blizzard was thinking with this profession.

If you want to grind it out, it's going to be a grind. While the RNG of the tradeskill is sort of what makes it what it is there are some changes being thought of that could ease some of the more painful aspects. Maybe getting a common won't be a total bummer, but a fractional-bummer, and maybe even just a 'dang'.

...on Cross-Realm Heirlooms

There was a blue post on this a long time ago saying it was something they were looking to implement, Then Cata was heralded and it got put on the backburner I presume so nothing has been heard for a long time.

Yes I believe it was something we were looking into or considering, and haven't heard an update on this topic for a while.

...

After a bit of investigation, it seems that though sending heirlooms across realms might well be something we'd like to consider doing at some point, there's currently no immediate plans to make the necessary changes to allow this to be possible.

This is not, as some claim in this thread, because we're wanting to encourage people to use paid Character Transfers to be able to transfer heirlooms to characters on other realms. It's unfortunate that this remains the only way players can achieve this and we would like to look into possibly changing this once priorities and schedules allow.

In the meantime, however, the generally reasonable length of time needed to level up through the newly remade lower level zones (especially if combined with guild perks and the extra experience boost you can get from running through dungeons as well) should be more than sufficient to get your characters on other realms to a higher level without an unreasonable investment of time, and probably also with a decent portion of fun.

Comments

Comment by Molekh

on 2011-01-26T20:00:31-06:00

And what about the BoA shoulder and helm enchant? you can now buy it and mail them to your alts, 'cause they are BoA, but your alt can't use it if it doesn't met the rep requirement. What's the point in this?

Comment by gotflashlol

on 2011-01-26T20:02:17-06:00

I agree with the post on Cross Realm heirlooms. It seems so fast to get to 60 with all the new quests, and then the Outlands gear has sockets to make it better than some BoA gear anyway.

Comment by ChairmanKaga

on 2011-01-26T20:05:06-06:00

People will continue to whine about heirlooms (and rightfully so), but Blizz has a point. Leveling is so smooth and fast now that heirlooms are serious overkill -- like nuclear weapons to kill a fly overkill. I cleared Westfall on a character, and when I was done, not only were the quests gray, but the next zone (Redridge) had moved well into the green range.

I really wish I could keep the heirloom stats but ditch the XP bonus. I honestly feel like I wasted my time and currency picking them up (since I did so primarily for the XP bonus). Oh well, maybe Behsten and Slahtz can help solve the problem.

Comment by Adamsm

on 2011-01-26T20:08:34-06:00

So, Soon.

Comment by Interest

on 2011-01-26T20:21:10-06:00

After a bit of investigation, it seems that though sending heirlooms across realms might well be something we'd like to consider doing at some point, there's currently no immediate plans to make the necessary changes to allow this to be possible.

YAY

HOPE!

Comment by Zanpher

on 2011-01-26T20:27:19-06:00

Its called bait and switch (scammers). This is not new to Blizzard. BoA = Bound on Account. Blizzard made this specifically clear when advertising these puppies (still do). However, they are BoS (bound on server). They did this so that you would spend $$$ and gold on your account for more money into Blizzard's coffers (Do not be deceived, this is an ActiGREED move, not a Blizzard move).

There are NO technical limitations for adding this. They just want the money. Thanks blizz for screwing over your customers, AGAIN.

Comment by elysianlight

on 2011-01-26T21:02:33-06:00

There are NO technical limitations for adding this. They just want the money. Thanks blizz for screwing over your customers, AGAIN.

Minus the part they are bound to the mailbox, and mailboxes do not work cross server, as is demonstrated that it needs to be empty when you do a server transfer. So yes there is technical limitations, don't pretend to know things that you know nothing about.

Comment by Zanpher

on 2011-01-26T22:27:38-06:00

Minus the part they are bound to the mailbox, and mailboxes do not work cross server, as is demonstrated that it needs to be empty when you do a server transfer. So yes there is technical limitations, don't pretend to know things that you know nothing about.

You might want to check out the blizzard store before sprouting such things lol.

Comment by kschiasson

on 2011-01-26T22:27:48-06:00

I agree with the post on Cross Realm heirlooms. It seems so fast to get to 60 with all the new quests, and then the Outlands gear has sockets to make it better than some BoA gear anyway.

yea BoA gear in outland makes outland much better, the place is still slow b/c they didnt change anything about the area, so the 20% boas are better

also why does he think everyone is going to switch servers and automaticly find a level X guild with all the guild perks for leveling if im new to a server im not going to go look for a guild at level 1 or even 10 so that doesnt make any sense

Comment by Monday

on 2011-01-26T22:33:34-06:00

yea BoA gear in outland makes outland much better, the place is still slow b/c they didnt change anything about the area, so the 20% boas are better

You sure about that? I found Outland leveling to be a breeze. It was much tighter than Vanilla and moved pretty quickly.

Comment by Zanpher

on 2011-01-26T23:20:17-06:00

Outland gear (w/ sockets) and northrend epic (or cata blues) gems make that gear last a long time.

Comment by Bots

on 2011-01-26T23:27:59-06:00

WUT? CANT WE ? WWWWWHAAAAAATT? A LONE BLIZZ AGAINST MIGHT OF THE WOW PLAYERS? WE WANT CROSS-REALM HEIRLOOM! WE PAY FOR GAMING FEE AND STUFF.. AND U GUYS WANT TO US PAY FOR "use paid Character Transfers" REALLY?

I am agree on Molekh post.. It's BoA which MEANS - BOUND on ACCOUNT - Which MUST mean that players MUST have ability to sent through CROSS-REALM...

and wtf?

"..... heirlooms across realms might well be something we'd like to consider doing at some point, there's currently no immediate plans to make the necessary changes to allow this to be possible. "? ftw?

Work harder on it..

Comment by Spruut

on 2011-01-27T03:01:03-06:00

imho, BoA lvling gear is a curse. One of the main things i loved about lvling, was changing gear. Shoulders and weapons do a lot about your look. Now i don't get that joy, because the BoA items are just that much better. Not neccecairly better stats, but the XP bonus. It would take a hell loads of stats to compensate for that XP boost.

And a fun thing is to run instances, to get new, awesome gear. (For me it's mostly about the nice weapons.) I know the heirloom weapons don't give an XP bonus, but they're on average better than most you get (I think, don't kill me!), and it's no variety in looks! It would be better if they just gave us one ring, or a ring and a trinket, that gives XP bonus and some other stat. it does not ruin your fun of getting a new, awesome look. And trinkets: There are few of them when lvling.

Just sayin'

Comment by Vurrashko

on 2011-01-27T06:23:55-06:00

Yes, you will find heirloom weapons to be better most of the time, perhaps you come across a random epic you will carry for one level or two. But the trinkets are easily replaced after passing a certain point, and they are only valid when solo leveling, not instance running, as you cannot guarantee a killing blow to give you mana/health. That, and you can "only" fill 4 slots with exp-bonus heirloom gear which are visible. 2 of them can be turned off in visibility. And the fifth one (the ring) is not a guaranteed catch, you will be on it for a while, depending on your server population.

My take on heirlooms is; nobody forces you to use them. If you want to enjoy the newly made lvl 1-60 content, and quest deeper into it, then just do not use the heirlooms. As with Wrath when it was there and Cata now, you can just level up without ever seeing every zone doing so. Or ever seeing the last quests of a single zone for that matter. Its a "questdepth vs. levelprogression" thing. You choose to clear that zone, or you move along once you hit the level req for the next. Heirlooms are anyways for people who have a) one 80+ character playing in wrath and b) who have the resources to pay for the heirlooms. An MMO takes time, and I am glad heirlooms help me save time to get a character where I want them to - at maxlevel.

As with Archaeology;

Make all freaking noncommon drops BoA please.

When you have obtained every single item from a race, only let noncommon BoA items be solved to send your other characters funny stuff.

If you hit the 200 pieces cap for a race (when 4.0.6 arrives) prohibit dig sites of that particular races to spawn.

Tol'Vir would be the exception with the commons I guess, because of the Vial of the Sands recipe contained in that common artifact. It would help a lot though when having all other races with a 200 piece cap, so only Tol'Vir sites would spawn. Ideas pending.

Comment by ChairmanKaga

on 2011-01-27T12:59:56-06:00

Minus the part they are bound to the mailbox, and mailboxes do not work cross server, as is demonstrated that it needs to be empty when you do a server transfer. So yes there is technical limitations, don't pretend to know things that you know nothing about.

You might want to check out the blizzard store before sprouting such things lol.

There's a very large difference between "generate this item in the mailbox when a new character is created on this account" and "transfer this item from this established character to one on a different realm".

But feel free to keep spouting off conspiracy theories on things you're clueless about. Status quo for the Internet, right?

Comment by Pwntiff

on 2011-01-27T14:27:04-06:00

It's nice to know cross-realm heirlooms is on the radar, at the very least.

I know right? =D

I just wonder how they'll implement it. It seems like it would be difficult to just be able to mail items across servers, since I don't think they are interconnected.

Comment by Sakarazu

on 2011-01-27T14:37:54-06:00

It's nice to know cross-realm heirlooms is on the radar, at the very least.

I know right? =D

I just wonder how they'll implement it. It seems like it would be difficult to just be able to mail items across servers, since I don't think they are interconnected.Maybe the characters from the same account are linked somehow even if they're on different servers?

Comment by vincistis

on 2011-01-27T15:02:01-06:00

I think cross realm might be choosing your realm from a list of realms, entering the characters name. then when you send your mail it checks that server for a toon of the name on your account. GMs have the ability to create and destroy items at will as I have dealt with many BoA deletions and restorations with them, I think if they implement that into the mail feature it would be awesome. heres an example: Poisoncake is on winterhoof, Ezraked on hyjal. I am on poisoncake and wish to mail my BoA to ezraked, I then check hyjal on the list of realms, enter Ezraked in the mail recipient box and the server deletes my item from poisoncake as if I did, and sends a fresh new one in the mail to Ezraked. =}

Comment by Pwntiff

on 2011-01-27T15:06:27-06:00

The problem is still getting the servers to communicate with each other, which I think is the exact reason it hasn't been added yet.

Comment by tonyy1

on 2011-01-27T15:15:13-06:00

back on topic......

any idea of how they planned to implement this? I was thinking of an "admin" server that you would create a toon on to mail heirloom items and only heirloom items too, that is accessible by every toon on your account via the mailbox?